Various product dispensing pumps, sprayers and the like, incorporate safety features to prevent undesirable and/or unsafe dispensing of medicinal compositions. For instance, such safety features are commonly integrated into product packaging to prevent unintended dispensing of toxic, or otherwise harmful, compositions by children. In such cases, it is beneficial to incorporate a closure mechanism—such as cap or lid—into the dispensing container, which makes it exceedingly difficult for a child to toggle the closure mechanism from a locked state to an unlocked, dispensing state.
Various child-resistant closures are known. Many solutions incorporate respective configurations of threaded caps that cooperate with a corresponding container to prevent the twisting removal of the cap without first performing a secondary task to disengage a portion of the cap from a portion of the container. However, such threaded cap closures are not easily adapted for use with pump and aerosol dispensing containers. Accordingly, threaded safety cap mechanisms are inadequate for various types of medicinal composition dispensers, such as inhalers, nasal sprayers, dispensing pumps and the like.
Another known approach incorporates a single use locking mechanism configured to provide a product user with visible evidence of product tampering. In this case, the child resistant locking mechanism, or feature, is generally only applicable during an initial use of the product; providing no protection against subsequent access to the contained medicinal composition.
In accordance with yet another known dispensing container locking solution, a pump assembly is attached to, or integrated with, a bottle. In this case, a pump actuator is provided to operate the pump in order to dispense a composition housed within the bottle. The pump actuator assembly includes a dispensing actuator locking interface, which governs vertical motion of the pump actuator. The dispensing actuator locking interface includes a projecting locking feature extending outward from an upper portion of the pump actuator. The projecting locking feature is retained in a locked configuration via an engagement edge of an actuator control feature. The projecting locking feature may be disengaged from the actuator control feature by rotating the pump actuator. Rotation of the pump actuator is restricted by a hinged rotation locking member extending outward from the pump actuator. The rotation locking member engages a locking wall, wherein the locking wall is in the form of a vertical edge provided in an upstanding wall circumscribing the pump actuator. However, the rotation locking member configuration has several limitations. In this case, the rotation locking member is an integral feature of the pump actuator, formed during a common molding process. The rotation locking member is hingedly attached to the pump actuator by a living hinge. This configuration risks damage to the hinge; to wit, the rotation locking member may become detached from the pump actuator. Once the rotation locking member has become detached it no longer provides the intended locking function. Since the pump actuator and rotation locking member are fabricated having a uniform construction, the material selection for each feature is not optimized. The hinge portion requires a high spring constant and reduced brittle nature to ensure that it does not break with minimal elastic deformation, whereas the pump actuator portion requires a more rigid material. The design of the rotation locking member—including geometry, size and location—is limited by the inclusion of the hinge. The design limitations restrict the effectiveness of the rotation locking member. This also contributes to the correspondingly high degree of force required to adequately depress the locking member. Users having limited strength, hand dexterity, mobility and the like, may have difficulty applying the degree of force necessary to depress the locking member. Since the pump actuator and rotation locking member are fabricated having a uniform, one-piece construction they are manufactured from a common, single-colored material. The incorporation of a common color makes it exceedingly difficult for an end user to visually distinguish the pump actuator from the rotation locking member. In that manner, the uniform color acts to visibly camouflage, or conceal, the rotation locking member. This is particularly problematic for sight impaired individuals, such as the elderly.
Another common drawback with existing safety/locking closures—particularly those found in dispensing containers intended for nasal delivery of medicinal compositions—is inefficient application of the dispensed nasal medication. For instance, some nasal medications require independent, direct application to each nostril.
Efforts have been made to provide an improved child-resistant actuator for use with a nasal sprayer, which overcomes the various drawbacks, disadvantages, and limitations of the prior art. However, such efforts have not been met with significant success. Consequently, the need remains for an improved child-resistant actuator, which provides reliable locking of the actuator to prevent undesired dispensing of the medicinal composition, enables the use of replaceable components between the locking feature and the primary components of the closure, and provides a convenient cost-effective means to color code various elements of the child-resistant closure.